Stewardship Educational Opportunity

Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church will offer Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU) early in 2017.  This class covers biblically-based principles of money management, beneficial to all from young people starting out on their own to older couples.  Millions of people have taken this class, learning God’s ways of handling money and changing their futures for the better.  On average, FPU graduates pay off $5,300 in debt and save $2,700 in only the first 90 days!

FPU consists of a nine-week video curriculum taught by financial expert Dave Ramsey.  The class also incorporates small group discussions that help encourage accountability and discipleship, and it is as fun as it is practical!  Sessions will be held at Faith in the Fellowship Hall from 6:30 – 8:00 Tuesday evenings, 10 January through 7 March.  The course will consist of the following lessons:

1.  Super saving
2. Relating with money
3. Cash flow planning
4. Dumping debt
5. Buyer beware
6. The role of insurance
7. Retirement and college planning
8. Real estate and mortgages
9. The great misunderstanding

Class materials cost $99.98 per family or couple, if ordered through Faith.  We may have some congregation members that would benefit greatly from the class, but could use some assistance with the tuition.  To sponsor one of these members, please speak with Pastor Ewings or Jeff Bromaghin.

On average, 30% of FPU attendees come from the community surrounding the sponsoring congregation.  In our case, 11 members of the community have enrolled in the class so far.  What an awesome opportunity to reach out to the community and offer information that could greatly benefit their lives!

We are planning to show a short preview of the first class at 6:30 on Tuesday, 13 December.  This will be an opportunity for members of the congregation to visit with attendees from the community and help them feel comfortable and welcome at Faith.  This will also be the last opportunity to enroll in the class, as a bulk order for materials will be placed later that week.

Please speak with Pastor Ewings or Jeff Bromaghin to enroll or for additional information.  You can also enroll with Sheila Lillo in the office.

In Christ,

Stewardship Committee

What is Stewardship?

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “stewardship”?

We might all have somewhat different answers to that question. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines stewardship as:

the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.

That sounds good, but as Christians we have a more authoritative source than the dictionary! Scripture has a lot to say about stewardship.  Perhaps the most well-known example is Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25, in which Jesus teaches how critically important it is for us to use the gifts we receive from God appropriately.  However, many other sections of scripture address various aspects of stewardship.  Consider the following handful of examples:

Psalms 54:6. With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.

2 Corinthians 9:8. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Philippians 4:8. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. 

1 Peter 4:10. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 

These verses (and many others) make it clear that stewardship involves every aspect of our lives.  Putting these thoughts together, a more fitting definition of Christian stewardship might be something like the following:

Stewardship is our God-pleasing management of the time of grace, natural abilities, spiritual gifts, and physical resources that our Lord has blessed us with and entrusted to our care.

If it has been some time since you have thought specifically about your personal stewardship of the gifts our Lord has blessed you with, consider taking some quiet time to prayerfully thank God for those gifts and reflect on how you might best use them to worship God, advance his kingdom on earth, and serve those around you.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Announcing Stewards of Faith!

We are all stewards of the blessings our Lord showers upon us and your Stewardship Committee is committed to enriching our collective understanding of biblical stewardship principles.  To help achieve that goal, we are launching the Stewards of Faith blog.  Stewards of Faith will periodically provide you with information about stewardship principles, educational and bible study opportunities, and other topics related to stewardship.  We look forward to serving you in this important area of our ministry.

In Christ,

Stewardship Committee